Aerodynamic design of the high-lift-wing for a Megaliner aircraft

A 'Megaliner' aircraft configuration like the Airbus A380 will become a civil transport aircraft lager than all existing designs. Its wing had to be designed not only to give the required cruise performance but also to be compatible with the given airport infrastructure. The aerodynamic design of the high-lift system has to fulfil the resulting targets for the take-off and landing configuration but is also required to have the minimum possible mechanical and structural system complexity, i.e. resulting in a minimum possible weight and cost. After an introduction to constraints of a Megaliner configuration a summary of high-lift wing solutions and the constraints driving the high-lift wing design is given. The experiences in high-lift design on previous Airbus aircraft and the major tools (computational fluid dynamics and windtunnel testing) for the design work and its verification are presented. Also a side view is given to the importance of research programs for the development of new high-lift concepts for future aircraft. The described development work for the Megaliner high-lift wing was driven by the strong requirement for an optimised overall design. Various interactions with the cruise wing design and the design of the support and actuation system are highlighted, which were leading to the best possible balanced solution. (C) 2002 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.